February 16, 2001

Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/ e-mail loweryr@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG - The author of a controversial new anthropology book believes members of a Mexican warrior cult migrated north, into the present day U.S., around A.D. 1200, exerting control over local pueblo populations in part through cannibalistic ceremonies.

Arizona State University anthropology professor Christy Turner will discuss "Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest," Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. in Science Building 147 at Central Washington University. The presentation is titled after his recently published book, co-authored with his wife and colleague Dr. Jacqueline Turner.

The free, public lecture is the second in honor of the late CWU professor emeritus of anthropology Catherine Jane MacMillan. Known to many as Katie Sands, MacMillan retired from CWU in 1995 after a 27-year teaching career.

"Man Corn" is the translation of the Aztec word for a sacred meal of human meat. The book has provoked strong reactions from some anthropologists, according to CWU anthropology professor Steve Hackenberger.

"Dr. Turner's forensic research and provocative cultural interpretations represent just the type of thought provoking scholarship that Dr. MacMillan enjoyed sharing with colleagues and students," Hackenberger adds.

For his book, Turner examined bones from 76 villages that show that at least 286 people were eaten at about half these places, suggesting cannibalism in religious ceremonies.

"Dr. Turner's findings may help answer a major archaeological question concerning the American Southwest, "Why did southwestern Native Americans start building massive stone pueblos around A.D. 900 and then abandon them 250 years later?'" Hackenberger says.

Turner's address will follow a 6 p.m. public reception, also in Science Building 147. For more information about the presentation, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-3201, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-3323.